Soccer
Manchester City outlast Atletico Madrid, advance to Champions League semifinals
Manchester City are known as one of the most skillful teams on the planet, but on Wednesday, they showed that they can mix things up when need be.
The Sky Blues earned a 0-0 draw at Atletico Madrid after a hotly-contested second leg of their Champions League quarterfinal, which was good enough to secure a place in the semifinals following last week's 1-0 result.
Wednesday's match didn't follow the script from Leg 1, however, as City spent long stretches on the back foot while Atletico probed in search of an equalizer. In fact, the Rojiblancos outshot their visitors and outplayed them for spells, especially in the second half as the clock ticked ever closer to fulltime.
This is in stark contrast to nearly every game involving City, who famously dominate the play against nearly every team they face — including Atletico in the first leg. Instead, the English side spent much of the game defending inside their own half, thwarting the hosts by giving them a frustrating taste of their own medicine.
Things came to a head as the 90 minutes wound down, with Atletico defender Felipe kicking out at City's Phil Foden and causing a scrum that saw several players earn yellow cards for their part in the melee. However, Felipe came away with the worst punishment as he was shown red and watched the remainder of the match from the sidelines.
The late-game scrum ultimately killed Atletico's momentum, allowing City to see out the 11 added minutes and clinch the aggregate victory.
Meanwhile, in England, Liverpool and Benfica played to a 3-3 draw at Anfield that was good enough to put the Reds through to the semis after last week's 3-1 win in Portugal.
Roberto Fimino scored twice, and Ibrahima Konaté added another for Liverpool, while Gonçalo Ramos, Roman Yaremchuk, and Darwin Núñez were on target for Benfica.
